Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the statement made by a think tank that the country could be one of the last Asian countries to achieve herd immunity versus coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has no basis.
The health chief even told the UK based group to review their Math.
"There is no basis for that statement of the self-proclaimed experts. I don't know where they are coming from," Duque said in a press briefing in Taguig, Thursday, June 24.
"I think they should review their Math. Their calculator probably doesn't have good batteries," he added.
Duque believes they will be able to meet their target of inoculating 70 million Filipinos.
"If we are targeting 70 million Filipinos, divide that by 500,000 jabs, what we will be able to accomplish in 140 days will be exactly 70 million for the first dose," he said.
"For the second dose, you will probably need two to three months because we need to take into consideration the time interval between the first and second doses," added Duque.
National Task Force (NTF) Deputy Chief Implementer and Testing Czar Vince Dizon said the group probably conducted their study several weeks or months ago.
"I don't know when the date the study was done but I think it was done several months or weeks ago when our daily jab rate was hovering below 100,000 per day," he said.
"The jab rate now is already averaging roughly 250,000 a day. More than double of the jab rate of several weeks ago. And just yesterday we hit our highest jab rate in one day 353,000," added Dizon.
He also explained that the jab rate is largely dependent primarily on supply.
"If you don't have the vaccines, you have nothing to jab," Dizon said.
"As we get more arrivals and deliveries of vaccines and as we continue to improve our processes...this will continue to improve," he added.
Meanwhile, a DOH official said people have autonomy when it comes to their health.
"That’s why they get to determine what kind of medical procedures they go into etc. We respect that autonomy, but also have the responsibility to continously inform the general public that this decision has to be done for their betterment. And also for the safety of the people around them and the entire community,"DOH - Disease Prevention and Control Bureau Director Dr Beverly Ho said in a separate online press briefing.